As city leaders prepare to cut deeper; public safety union
leaders are on the defense.

How much further the cuts go, and whether depleted staffing
levels will be restored, are the unanswered questions.

Both the police and fire departments, which according to Manager Darnell early account for about 70 percent of the general fund expenditures, are understaffed,
based on the number of positions budgeted in the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

As of March, 94 of 102 police positions and 59 of 67
budgeted firefighting positions were filled, with an additional firefighter
expected to retire in next week.

"There simply are no funds to back-fill vacant positions in
police and fire, as well as the other positions in city government," Earley said in a release Thursday, and that's why the "conditional"
hiring freeze for all government employees was instituted earlier this year.

Earley is currently creating a "fact-finding" committee composed
of residents, public safety union representatives and a City Council member,
tasked with providing "some recommendations on whether a more cost-effective
method of service delivery could be implemented."

"We won't know the depth of retrenchment, cuts in public
safety, until we get to the final numbers for balancing the budget," he said. "So,
the number you have has not been targeted at this point."

Mayor Greg Branch

Union reaction

Saginaw Police Officer Doug Wortley and Fire Capt. Thomas
Raines, both leaders of their respective unions, feel the city, by reducing
staff levels as significantly as it has, is shorting taxpayers who supported the
7.5-mill public safety tax two years ago.

The first 6-mill property tax levy for public safety passed
in 2005, and Assistant City Manager for Fiscal Services Tim Morales said
since that time the fund has been set up to pay for 51 public safety positions,
31 police and 20 fire, although it's rarely broken even.

According to the 2011 audit, the public safety fund, which
raised $2.95 million in property taxes and cost $4.1 million, had a $1.17
million deficit.

"City residents supported and approved a
public safety millage that was to maintain, for as long as possible, 31 police
officers and 20 firefighters," Saginaw Mayor Greg Branch said in written response
to an MLive.com commenter Thursday. "But there was a very clear message that even
with that millage would not be able to sustain the same staffing levels for the
entire five-year life of the millage. If you look at the minutes from the
Council meeting just before the election, you can see that I stated that as
plainly as possible."

Wortley and
Raines said the budget for the public safety millage positions, which taxpayers
originally passed to bolster public safety, shouldn't include legacy costs for
retirees that have nothing to do with cost related to the additional slots.

Saginaw Manager Darnell Earley

Legacy costs
for past police and fire employees are spread among all public safety positions.

"All of that $1.17 million (shortage in 2011) came from the general
fund anyway," Morales said. "It's not like your putting costs in there and breaking
even.

"The bottom line is that
$23.87 million was spent on public safety, police and fire, from the
general fund, not the public safety, fund (in 2011)," Morales said. "The actual general fund revenue for (fiscal year) 2011
was $33.32 million. Therefore, public safety costs expended 72% of the total general fund revenue."

Public risk?

At a fire department promotion ceremony at City Hall Friday,
Saginaw Fire Department Capt. Henry Landfair, who retires
this week, said department morale is "low" and there are concerns among
employees that the staffing shortages will lead to injuries.

Landfair said uncertainty within the department
led him to retire two years earlier than he originally planned.

Earley, reflecting on 11 shootings and
seven killings in Saginaw this year, including the shooting of a state police
trooper, said he's "not convinced that more officers on the street would have
prevented the spike in violence.

"There is certain familiarity with many
of those crimes committed," Earley said. "Certainly, as a result, the most
recent incidents would indicate that they would have happened regardless of the
staffing levels...

"The question we are asking is, 'Are we
making the most effective and efficient utilization of the financial and human
resources we do have to strengthen public safety, and if not, what are we going
to do about?'"

"We may not be able to prevent all of these shootings and
all these crimes that occur, but it's got to be a concern to our citizens and
our officers," Wortley said. "Just to say more cops isn't going to help
anything; is less going to help?

"It's easy for him to say because he doesn't live in the
city."

Wortley and Raines are both members of the Public Safety/Planning
Committee, which meets for the first time in April.